Star Trek: The Next Generation - 10 Best Episodes Not About The Main Cast
7. The Nth Degree
This episode follows the plot of Flowers for Algernon, though instead of mentally disabled man being given greater intelligence, Barclay, a man of average intelligence becomes a supercomputer, all so that a race of lazy aliens can say hello.
It is great to see Dwight Shultz give such a strong performance in this episode as we had previously only known him as a bit of a joke. His attempts to act in Dr. Crusher's Cyrano de Bergerac play in the beginning of the episode are analogous to his disasterous attempts at most other things on board the ship.
Though he is stripped of his superintelligence by the end of the episode, he is left with the memory of it and the ability to now play chess, which he had been completely lacking before. Though this is itself is not ground-breaking, it does suggest that he is now capable of thinking strategically and a few moves ahead - something that would come into play later down the line in star Trek: Voyager.
The Nth Degree, while not as much fun as Hollow Pursuits, is still a thoroughly enjoyable episode that allows this guest to shine.